ADDRESSABLE VOLUME
2018, five channel video installation, 4:45min

We know that breath means vitality. However, breath also assures us the presence, warmth and
immediacy of the other. Air does not only move in us but also between us. But how can this
be made visible? In the art of glass blowing, bodies are formed with the help of escaping breath, bodies which envelop it. In the video, scenes from a glassblowing workshop are mounted in a way that the glass bubbles symbolize the split cycle of breathing air with their growing expansion through to their shattering. The apparent immateriality of the air becomes so powerful that the glass shell gets thinner and more fragile and necessarily must be destroyed to release the precious content for the other. The title of the work addressable volume is a biological term that describes the physical extension potential of a living being. However, the mostly beneficial strategy of surface augmentation reduces the stability of the organism at the same time, which makes it more vulnerable and thus also carries the potential of destruction.

Concept & Direction: Edith Kollath Glasblower: Ralf Reichert Camera: Heiko Rahnenführer Postproduction, Special Effects: Maxim Matthew Sound: Gavin Hoare, Douglas Henderson Performers: Dejan Bucin, Christina Dusch, Tahera Hashemi, Tom Mahnke, Eliza Mewanu, Katja-Marie Voigt, Ursula Werner, Tom Wlaschiha

Kindly supported by the Goethe-Institut Australia.